this is bbc world news. i'm lewis vaughan—jones. our top stories: syrian government forces make gains in ghouta, splitting the territory held by rebels. the us takes the first step towards banning bump stocks — the deadly device that turns a rifle into a machine gun. president trump is due back on the campaign trail shortly, shoring up the vote for republicans in steel country. it is as if they are struggling to hold. it will bring you the latest, live. —— it is a seat. and the bbc learns that british police investigating the suspected poisoning of a former russian spy have found traces of a nerve agent in a restaurant he visited. hello and welcome to bbc news. monitoring groups say more

than 1,000 people have been killed in syria since government forces stepped up their military offensive in eastern ghouta three weeks ago. soldiers loyal to president assad are reported to have made significant advances and are believed to have cut off the biggest towns in the area, douma and harasta. despite international pressures and a un resolution calling for a ceasefire, eastern ghouta continues to be targeted by air strikes and mortar shells, with people seeking refuge from the bombs by digging tunnels underground. martin patience reports. this is where the un calls "hell on earth". today, an injured man is scrambled to safety but war planes are overhead. there's no escape. the syrian army has now reportedly surrounded the main town of douma. syrian jets are pounding the besieged enclave.

there are rebel fighters, some extremist, but hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped inside. the united nations calls these air strikes "collective punishment". syria and its backer, russia, are not listening. the syrian army is advancing. eastern ghouta is the last major opposition stronghold close to the capital. this commander seems confident of victory. the terrorists, as he calls them, are on the run. but civilians are caught. they have nowhere to run. an aid convoy reached them yesterday, delivering food supplies, but international organisations say it's nowhere near enough. the battle for eastern ghouta appears to be entering the final stage. but the end could be bloodier

than what has come before. martin patience, bbc news, lebanon. earlier, bbc spoke to the middle east programme director at crisis group, joost hiltermann. he said that the international community should increase pressure on russia and iran to protect civilians in the region. the pressure is clearly tremendous. there is a united nations security council resolution calling for a nationwide ceasefire, therefore including eastern kuta, and yet we see that the offensive continues their, at tremendous cost to the local population. it is not clear what the way out is. typically, eastern kuta, despite or apart from the fact that there is supposedly a nationwide ceasefire, it is also a deescalation zone which means that no fighting should be taking place between the regime and the rebels

there. but groups such as al-qaeda and islamic state are excluded from that but the presence of an al-qaeda affiliated group there is very minor. it is clearly being used as an excuse minor. it is clearly being used as an excuse to continue attacking civilian areas and is targeting all the rebels. so now, the question is what can other states do? exert pressure on russia, on syria, on a run? we don't see it. —— iran. we can hope for any other measure that would help to the lives of the set —— civilians would help to the lives of the set -- civilians in would help to the lives of the set —— civilians in particular. and there's been some development in us moves towards gun control — the us department ofjustice has taken the first step towards banning bump stocks. they allow rifles to fire with the speed of machine guns. bump stocks were used last year by a gunman in las vegas to kill 58 people. the definition of machine guns, which are already banned, will be changed to include bump stocks, effectively banning them for sale too.

bbc washington correspondent chris buckler explains about the move. i think it is one step towards trying to improve gun safety. it is certainly new restrictions but a lot of campaigners have been asking for andindeed of campaigners have been asking for and indeed which president trump himself is talked about. as you mentioned these are devices which are essentially modified semiautomatic weapons and turn them into automatic machine—guns in effect, basically they increase the speed at which bullets can be fired. it was that attack in las vegas in 0ctober it was that attack in las vegas in october in which 58 people were killed and hundreds were injured that really brought it to the fore because these devices were used on semiautomatic rifle then to use them effectively as machine—guns. it is important to say that this is just the first step in a lengthy process. president trump has been talking about this and it is now clear the

department ofjustice what to do it. but the proposal has the jump through a number of groups before it is finally made law and there is the chance that the legal challenge make come forward but there is the designer campaigners are being heard the gun restrictions that new laws to try to tighten legislation is something they want. what is interesting though is that this is not in itself new legislation. as you mentioned, this is really about redefining existing legislation and making bump stocks one of the things thatis making bump stocks one of the things that is defined as a machine—gun and that is defined as a machine—gun and thatis that is defined as a machine—gun and that is how it will be tightened but effectively, it begs them illegal the sale. here in washington we are preparing before the end of the munster have a huge march year in students, particularly organising, people to come and campaign to ask the politicians to listen and we are seeing this battle taking place between campaigners and the gun lobby, including the nra. as you sell, this week in florida, we have

new legislation signed into law by the government there rick scott and one of those laws, one of those restrictions being put in place is to raise the age at which someone could buy a gun from 18 to 21. the nra is challenging that. it gives you a sense ofjust how hated this book hated this debate is. campaigners will not be looking just the sympathy, they want change. e; staying in the us, president trump is addressing a rally in the us state of pennsylvania just a few days before a special election takes place to fill the seat of a republican politician who resigned in october. let's take a quick listen in. he isjust preparing to speak and coming to the podium now. in audible. you can hear them

chanting usa! usa. let's see what he has to say. hello, pittsburgh. hello, pittsburgh. you know what? do mea hello, pittsburgh. you know what? do me a favour, get out on tuesday, vote for rick and we can live right 110w. vote for rick and we can live right now. we don't have to spend any time. great guy. i'm thrilled to be backin time. great guy. i'm thrilled to be back in pennsylvania, where i went to school, went to college. with so many ha rd—working to school, went to college. with so many hard—working american patriots, you are great people great. pennsylvania is the state that gave us pennsylvania is the state that gave us american independence, american freedom, and what else? american steel! american - we have been

steel! american steel! we have been talking a little bit about steel over the last little while, haven't they? and we are facing the steel and a lot of steel mills are now opening up because of what i did. and not all of my friends on wall street love it but we love it because we know what it does. many pla nts because we know what it does. many plants have just announced of the last few days that expanding, opening, steel is back, it is going to be back, too, steel is back and aluminium is back. it will be back. and on november eight, pennsylvania is the state that gave us the 45th president of the united states. usa! usa! and i think we are doing a good

job for you. i usa! and i think we are doing a good job foryou. i hope usa! and i think we are doing a good job for you. i hope so. we're working hard. it's not easy. but washington, dc, it has a lot of evil there but we are getting it out, step—by—step, a lot of people, a lot of bad people. a lot of bad people, a lot of fake media, look at them, a lot of fake media. doing. booing. fake media. i don't no if you saw it but we have had a problem for years with north korea. in fact, president 0bama said it was the biggest problem we had. and south korea went there, we put very very strong sanctions and lots of other things we have been doing, right from the first day i was in office and south korea came to my office at after having gone to north korea and seeing jong and... no, it is very

positive —— kim jong—un. seeing jong and... no, it is very positive —— kimjong—un. after the meeting you can do that but now we have to be very nice because let's see what happens. let's see what happens. to the south korean top people, top representatives, they walk out the white house to a strong of these characters. big, big room. and of ron wanted to find out what happened and they had left north korea. look, north korea is tough. that testing nuclear weapons. they are doing a lot of things, this should have been handled, by the way, over the last 30 years. not 110w. way, over the last 30 years. not now. that is what it should be. we shouldn't have handled jaksch this shouldn't have handled jaksch this should have been handled and eve ryo ne should have been handled and everyone will see it, too, but that is ok, because that is what we do, we handle things. these guys came out and they said the president has

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